For the love of Produce...
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I had a sprinkle of raw samphire in a tomato sandwich for breakfast. It is a good vegan ingredient for adding a salty umami hit. @AnnPT77 you might find it more easily when you are on the coast. I do have an American cookbook (the Silver Palate circa 1988) that includes a recipe for shrimp with salicornia.
I remember seeing a documentary about people trying to farm samphire as it is an expensive ingredient valued by posh restaurants. The growing conditions were pretty unique as the plants needed to be completely submerged in salt water every day for a few hours. The natural habitat is tidal flats. The hubby remembers eating it on camping trips with his youth nature group, where the boys would be sent down to harvest it on the muddy coast. Those north sea islands have a beachy northern coast with fine sand, and mud flats on the south side.4 -
I used up the last of the samphire scattered over a salade Nicoise. This time I just blanched for two minutes before draining and cooling before adding to the salad.
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Advice please on what to do with fennel. Hubby went to the good green grocer that is a 20 minute trek from home. I asked for any vegetable we don't routinely eat and he came back wth two bulbs of fennel. Any recommendations on what to do with them? The simplest thing would to slice fennel and apple thinly for a salad.0
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Advice please on what to do with fennel. Hubby went to the good green grocer that is a 20 minute trek from home. I asked for any vegetable we don't routinely eat and he came back wth two bulbs of fennel. Any recommendations on what to do with them? The simplest thing would to slice fennel and apple thinly for a salad.
Thinly sliced and served with other vegetables along with humus or mixed in with pickle brine. Added to any green salad. Mixed with shredded cabbage for a really tasty slaw. Topping for pizza. Fermented with some other vegetables. Mmmm.2 -
I never had fennel growing up.. then marrying an Italian.. his Mom in Roma - makes Fennel all the time! “ Finocchio”
2 recipes for consideration..
Finocchi Gratinati
Fennel
breadcrumbs
Parmigiano Reggiano
Thyme, herbs to taste
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Lemon squeeze
Toss cut fennel and coat.. bake til golden.
This is a fav I found online-
Fennel and orange salad with olives. I think the tastes really compliment each other. I had a version of this in Sicilia and it was chef’s kiss 😚
https://tastefullygrace.com/italian-fennel-orange-salad/
Let us know what you make!4 -
The first fennel bulb was sliced thinly with a granny smith apple, dressed with ranch and sprinkled with candied pumpkin seeds. I still have a bulb in the fridge which I will try baking or roasting on Thursday.
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We had one more fennel bulb which I wanted to roast or bake. This was finely sliced, tossed in a scant amount of olive oil and salted and popped in the air fryer at 200C. I had looked at recipes that suggested 30-40 minutes of cooking but 10 minutes was plenty if the fennel is thinly sliced and scantily oiled. Next attempt I will cut into thicker wedges.
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I've got another fennel bulb. Will try something with it on the weekend.3
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So braised fennel (what my husband asked me to try because he looks soft vegetables) was not hit. It is the greyish slush on the left. Will try the Italian gratinned version next time.
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So braised fennel (what my husband asked me to try because he looks soft vegetables) was not hit. It is the greyish slush on the left. Will try the Italian gratinned version next time.
That glorious-looking dish in the foreground should more than make up for the disappointing fennel!1 -
@spinnerdell
Cheese souffle is easier than most people think. I even do them on week nights. The only problem is it creates a lot of dirty dishes. A small saucepan for the bechamel, a spotless large measuring cup for whipping the egg whites, and 2 ramekins for baking.
I normally skip the argula in the recipe. I like to bake longer for 20 minutes as I like a dry on the inside souffle.
https://bestrecipes.co/recipes/air-fryer-arugula-cheddar-egg-souffles/
Apologies for digressing from produce.2 -
I am loving $1 a bunch asparagus at the moment! Having it every meal!3
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Alatariel75 wrote: »I am loving $1 a bunch asparagus at the moment! Having it every meal!
😋 @Alatariel75 - yum- where in the world do I find this $1 a bunch asparagus?!
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SafariGalNYC wrote: »Alatariel75 wrote: »I am loving $1 a bunch asparagus at the moment! Having it every meal!
😋 @Alatariel75 - yum- where in the world do I find this $1 a bunch asparagus?!
South Australia! haha
It's so so good, I've never seen it so cheap for so long. It's not isolated, all my supermarkets and fruit and veg have it at that price! I've made soup, crustless quiche, and every meal has had it sauteed, steamed, grilled, you name it. Good thing I love it! I'm also going to ferment some!3 -
French produce … this pumpkin is a beauty.
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Mushrooms aren't plants, but I still count them as produce. The USDA does too, so here's my mushroom report.
Last year wasn't so good. We had a very dry autumn. No rain of any significance. By the time we got rain, we had already had some frost. I did find just a few chanterelles and some lobster mushrooms. Well, actually I found a cauliflower mushroom, so that was actually really great! But I love chanterelles, and I found oh so few.
I had been thinking this might be a good year since there wasn't much above ground last year. Then we got some rain a couple times late summer and again early fall. I went out to a local area a few weeks ago and found some. This is an area I used to find LOTS, but mushroom forays have become way more popular. This is an area not far from town, so everyone and their aunt & uncle go look there. I go farther from the trail and sometimes find them, but I also find plenty of evidence that people have been there before me and picked what is there. I found a BUNCH of lobster mushrooms and a decent amount of chanterelles which I ate.
Well, yesterday I got inspired to go out to a patch of forest I like to visit once a year to look for chanterelles. I was deciding whether to go yesterday or today. There was LOTS of rain in the forecast both days, but today was supposed to be much heavier, and the sooner you go the more likely you'll get there before other folks. Back when I was working, I had Mondays off. I always got there after other folks had harvested. Now I can go on Thursday or Friday or any day! I got there after a couple hiccups (was about ten miles from home when I realized I had left my boots in my living room and came back to get them, then realized I had the wrong rain pants when I got to the woods...). I got dressed and headed out.
I knew it was going to be good when I started finding them in the road bank before I even went into the forest.
I have two other areas nearby I usually also foray in, but I never got over to them because I got my fill in the first area. I would find one, pick it, clean it up, put it in my bucket, and then look around before I got off all fours. Most of the time I just crawled a couple feet and picked one, two, or four more. Then I'd look again and sometimes stand up and take two or three steps to pick more. Then I'd move and find another patch.
There were so many I could be very choosy about which ones I picked and which ones I left. There were some of all sizes. Most of the larger ones were already kind of slimy. The one pictured below weighed over a half pound and while it was moist, it was firm and will dry a bit before I process it or put it in a paper sack to cut up and eat soon.
I love mushrooms! I set them out to dry since they were pretty soggy from all the rain. With their vase shaped caps, they hold water. They are all still firm so they'll dry up nicely. I will save some in paper sacks for use fresh. I will give some away (I already gave some away last night). The rest will get sauteed and then vacuum sealed and frozen so I'll be able to enjoy chanterelles all year long.
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Mushrooms aren't plants, but I still count them as produce. The USDA does too, so here's my mushroom report.
Wow @mtaratoot !!! I also love mushrooms. So versatile. The best omelette I have ever had - was a champignon omelette in Bolougne. It was allll the wild shrooms!!!!
Great pic!! 🍄
I’m trying to taste more varieties.. . I’ve read that morels are highly nutritious.1 -
I thought these were interesting. “Dracula” blood oranges from Australia.
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The hubby thought he was buying small new potatoes (at this of year?) but they turned out to yellow (unripe?) dates. They are sweet but make my tongue feel astringent and fuzzy in the same way as unripe Sharon fruit (aka persimmon). Any ideas on what to do with them?
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The hubby thought he was buying small new potatoes (at this of year?) but they turned out to yellow (unripe?) dates. They are sweet but make my tongue feel astringent and fuzzy in the same way as unripe Sharon fruit (aka persimmon). Any ideas on what to do with them?
Barhi dates! Super versatile lil suckers. Interesting taste — astringent is a great word to describe.
I’ve had these as a lot of garnish.. also had in a halva recipe. Date squares… I’ve seen a recipe that calls for sauteeing with garlic and olive oil.. haven’t tried that tho!
Minced in yogurt is nice.2 -
We had galia melon with serrano ham and a few of the barhi dates. Good combination. Next time will serve more barhi dates. The fattiness of the raw ham disappates that astringency that leaves my mouth feeling woolly.
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Went to a farmers market today.. they had a bushel of Jerusalem Artichokes ! I rarely see them. Also.. really pretty mushrooms. @mtaratoot - thought about ya!
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SafariGalNYC wrote: »Went to a farmers market today.. they had a bushel of Jerusalem Artichokes ! I rarely see them. Also.. really pretty mushrooms. @mtaratoot - thought about ya!
We get sunchokes most of the year. I get them from time to time; I just like them sliced into salads, although you can cook 'em.
Those do look like nice mushrooms. They all look like varieties that can be cultivated - lion's mane, king oyster, and chestnut. They sure are delicious. In addition to the chanterelles I've been collecting (and I'm tempted to go back out one more time today), my shiitake logs are fruiting. After years of taking care of them and waiting, they seem to be hitting a pace. I have to cut some oak stems later this year, so if any are big enough, I'll inoculate them for future shiitake.
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I will never make butternut squash gnocchi again. Despite roastig them in the air fryer they retained a lot of water. It made the sticky dough extremely hard to haandle, so I had to incorporate quite a lot of flour making them both tough and too tasteless for a brown butter and sage sauce. Bok choi was good at least.
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Apparently really good for digestion. I love the aroma of fennel. 
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